Parallel
by cadmiumred
Summary: Jean-Luc Picard receives the unexpected opportunity to see what could have been - but a parallel universe brings its own complications. AU


Picard awoke on the floor of his shuttlecraft with a throbbing head and a queasy stomach. He lifted a hand and pressed it against his temple, groaned softly.

_Something happened…but what?_ The computer was chiming insistently, and the star charts on the console looked…off. _Oh hell…just what I hoped wouldn't happen...this isn't my universe. Should never have agreed to this mission._ He raised up on one elbow to get a better look and to turn off that damned alarm...

…and he was caught in a transporter beam. Seconds later he materialized on the floor of what looked to be a Federation standard Sickbay. He squinted up at the muted lights above. _At least this universe looks safe. _

And someone was kneeling beside and behind him. He turned his head (which hurt his throbbing neck) to meet the eyes of Beverly. Or, _a_ Beverly, to be more specific. Her hair was different than the Beverly in his universe, he absently noted, then blinked in the realization that it hadbeen months since the two of them had talked…_._ This Beverly's hair was perfectly straight, a vibrant red straight down and brushing her shoulders, and her communicator was…different. A sharper insignia. Her uniform and smock were the same blue and black, though. But when he looked back at her face, met her eyes, she looked…her mouth was held tightly shut, and she was blinking rapidly.

He cleared his throat, "Beverly," he croaked, and winced at the sound of his voice in the quiet Sickbay. _It's so quiet in here…that's odd_.

"You have a head wound. Stay down." Her voice was soft, firm, familiar. And she broke eye contact and got to work. After a few moments, she helped him up and guided him to the closest biobed. As he laid there and stared at the ceiling, he debated whether to ask where he was…

He heard the doors swish open across the room, and a moment later someone was standing on the other side of the bed. He turned his head to see - and froze.

A grayer, older Jack Crusher was looking down at him.

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"You can sit up, now." Beverly's quiet voice cut through the tense silence. He sat up obediently and reached up to touch his head - the wound on his temple was gone, and his neck no longer hurt.

"Johnny…welcome to the Enterprise." Jack's voice was just as quiet as Beverly's and it was eerie to hear it again after all of these years. Jack looked…older. Grey through the temples, lines around his mouth, but his eyes crinkled a bit in a muted smile. "Let me take you somewhere a bit more…private." And Jack tapped his comm badge. "Two to beam to quarters."

And Sickbay disappeared as the two men materialized in a set of standard guest quarters. As soon as they arrived, Jack began speaking. "I imagine you've figured out that you aren't in your own universe anymore. Rest assured that we're working hard to get you back home. So until then…I'll need you to stay here." And Jack walked out before Jean-Luc could say a word.

Picard stood in the middle of the living room in confusion. _I think I've just been…confined. _

He stood for a moment, then tested the door (which was locked), the replicator (which worked, but just to produce food and clothing) and the terminal (which allowed him general guest access only). With a sigh, he sat down at the desk and began to research this universe.

Upon examination, most major historical events seemed to be as expected…but Picard knew that he had to be confined for a reason. He was on the Enterprise - and Jack was obviously the captain. Beverly was the Chief Medical Officer…and according to the computer, Jack and Beverly had been married, had a son, Wesley, who had been killed nine years ago.

Picard swallowed, a stab of grief in his chest at the thought of Wesley dead. According to ship's records, Jack and Beverly had separated a year after their son's death. But after eight years serving separately on different ships, they had both been assigned to the Enterprise E, which had been in the Beta Quadrant for a year.

Picard leaned back in the chair and wondered about the nature of their current relationship. Whether they had requested this assignment together...and whether a Jean-Luc Picard even existed in this universe. In Sickbay, Jack had greeted him by name, and Beverly seemed nervous, anxious, so it stood to reason that yes, he did exist in this universe. But the Sickbay had been empty save for himself, Jack and Beverly, which led Picard to believe that it was dangerous for others to know that he existed. Or at least prudent, for some reason, to keep his existence concealed.

With a few taps on the console, Picard looked himself up…and found that this universe's Picard had been killed two years ago. He slowly let out a breath he had been unaware of holding. Without prompting, his mind shifted back to Beverly. In his universe, they had drifted apart since she took command of the Pasteur and he…missed her. Desperately. He needed to contact her, just to see her face. He had been realizing daily how much he…longed to see her, how her absence was a void in his life.

And in this universe, well, _this _Beverly was holding back some sort of emotional response when she saw him. Was it the pain of seeing a friend, a colleague that had been killed in her universe…or something more?

The door chimed. Picard blinked, looked up. "Enter."

Jack walked in, still in uniform, saw Picard at the desk and pulled up another chair, sat across from him.

"We should be able to get you back to the anomaly within a day." Jack's shoulders slowly relaxed as he stared at Jean-Luc. "It's good to see you," he softly stated, and his mouth quirked up in a half smile that was so familiar to Jean-Luc.

"Is Beverly all right? She seemed…anxious, earlier." The words slipped out before Picard thought better of it. And Picard watched Jack's defenses raise immediately, saw a neutral expression settle on the man's face.

Jack deliberately turned his chair away, clasped his hands in his lap and looked out the window. And just as quietly responded, "I think she was...surprised to see you. As was I. You see, your counterpart here was killed two years ago. And we both cared about you deeply."

And as Picard watched Jack's jaw harden, he knew - he _knew_. There had been something - _something_ between this universe's Jean-Luc and Beverly. Acted upon? Perhaps not. But there _was _something….and Jack knew about it. Picard's stomach flipped illogically, even though he wasn't even a part of this universe, even though this Jack was not currently married to this Beverly. Picard dropped his eyes to his hands on the desk, taking a careful breath, settling himself.

After a moment, Picard looked up again to see Jack staring intently at him. "Jean-Luc, I know you very well, if you're anything like the man I we knew here. And I'm guessing that the moment you were brought to these private quarters you looked up our backgrounds, the three of us. So let me tell you something that you won't find in the files."

Jack pulled his chair in front of Picard so that they were nose to nose, and Picard had the sudden urge to lean back. It was uncanny to look into the face of his dead friend - but it was even more unsettling to see the deadly focus on Jack's face. While age had been kind to him, the intense glitter in his eyes was…alarming.

"Jean-Luc, I never stopped loving Beverly. And over the past months she and I have moved from a tolerable working relationship to a cautious….something. I don't know what that something is, but I have hope that she and I can...find a way to fit together again. Your arrival…" Jack trailed off, looked down at the floor, then looked back up.

"Your arrival has the potential to unsettle this...process." Jack blinked, leaned back, cleared his throat. "Just...please don't hurt her. I can't control what you do and I can't control what she does or how she feels. But I still love her." And he abruptly got up and left the room, leaving Picard alone, trying to decipher if the previous conversation was a blessing or a warning or a curse.

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Picard woke from a fitful sleep, confused from the unfamiliar bed, until he heard the door chime. He cleared his throat. "Who is it?"

"Beverly Howard."

He was instantly awake. "Enter," and he stumbled out of bed, looking for a robe before remembering that the robe he had replicated earlier was in fact in the bathroom. "I'll be right out," he called and made his way into the bathroom.

A few minutes later he left the bathroom, intending to go into the living room - and he found Beverly sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at nothing in particular. Tentatively, he went and sat beside her. She didn't move a muscle. So he waited.

Finally, after a long minute, she spoke, still staring straight ahead. "In my universe, you were killed two years ago. So you'll have to forgive me if I didn't seem myself in Sickbay." She turned and looked at him. "We never took that step. If we had, then your death would have hurt even more, if that's even conceivable. But seeing you now...well, it makes me remember the what ifs." She smiled sadly.

He didn't know what to say, just looked at her in the half light, at the way her hair skimmed her shoulders, the bright blue of her eyes.

"Captain Crusher to Picard." Picard blinked. Long distant memories of Jack hailing him on the Stargazer years ago flooded to the surface, triggered by the sound of his voice.

"Picard here."

"Sorry if I woke you. We've arrived ahead of schedule. We'll be beaming you back to your shuttle in three minutes."

"Understood. Picard out."

Beverly and Jean-Luc stared at each other in the silence. Suddenly, she leaned forward and kissed him. Her scent filled his senses, her mouth was warm and firm, his skin tingled as her hand slid across his cheek, caressing his skin - and it was over far too soon.

"Goodbye, Jean-Luc. If I'm back in your universe, don't wait until it's too late. She loves you, I'm guessing." She stood and he stood in an involuntary response, and she slipped out of his bedroom and his quarters without a backward glance, leaving him breathless, longing, needing - loving.

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Picard felt a profound sense of relief as he materialized back on his own shuttle, in his own universe.

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That evening, after sending off a brief report about the mission, he leaned back in his chair and let out a deep breath.

"Computer - record transmission. Recipient: Captain Beverly Crusher."

He sat for a moment, then began.

"Beverly, I miss you."


End file.
